Officer X: TIME Adds Anonymous DADT Blogger

TIME’s Battleland blog announced today a new contributor called “Officer X” — a young, gay pilot in the U.S. military who is going to post regularly about the repeal of the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and offer a first person account of what it is like to be a gay service member. Officer X will be blogging anonymously until DADT is lifted. Once the ban is gone, the contributor says he/she will identify himself/herself to Battleland readers.

In the first post, he/she writes, “I have been given the opportunity to share my firsthand experiences from the inside as I watch the fall of a policy that is undeniably discriminatory. By ‘not asking’ and ‘not telling,’ the people repressed by this policy have been robbed of their voice to speak out. As a result, the impact of such a policy doesn’t hit close to home for enough families, friends, or coworkers. By blogging here, it is my goal to share the excitement felt by every gay and lesbian service member as this burden of lies, cover stories, and double lives is lifted.”